Growing referrals and reputation with a single strategy

Share it:

Client

A renowned, nationally-ranked academic medical and research health system based in the Los Angeles area and inclusive of two acute care hospitals, more than 40 outpatient facilities and a medical group practice.

Challenge

Highly regarded for its many acclaimed specialists and patient care, the organization was still challenged with needing to develop a stronger national reputation among referring physicians. Aside from growing volume, referring physicians are key to building reputation and credibility among peers and in rankings such as U.S. News & World Report. The organization was already earning solid national rankings, but these numbers had room to move higher.

Discovery

Moveo worked closely with the organization’s Department of Planning to dig deep into the data and insights behind their current rankings. We also partnered with many leading vendors (such as U.S. News & World Report’s Hospital Data and Insights tool, Doximity and Medscape among others) to explore the full range of possibilities for physician communication and networking. Finally, we closely analyzed the latest research on physician communication preferences. We wanted to confirm: do they prefer live presentations? Which digital channels are most effective in reaching them?

Insight & Solution

We analyzed what regions had physicians with a higher regard of our client, enabling more precisely targeted communications. In addition, we were able to draw more parallels between our clinical leads and how their peers submitted U.S. News and World Report ballots. We also learned that referring physicians prefer a marketing mix built on peer-to-peer influence using robust specialty-specific content. From these insights began development of a marketing strategy that promoted our organization’s clinical care and research, new techniques, treatment guidelines, case presentations and clear protocols for connecting/referring patients. Our goal was to help referring physicians understand our organization’s differentiators and start seeing it as a destination for specialty care.

Implementation

We launched a regional and national campaign using an array of digital tactics such as highly trackable eZines designed to target specialty referral volumes, email blasts, and sponsored content. The campaign also included alumni-targeted communications and peer networking tactics on Doximity. These tactics were supported by an enhanced organization web presence and additional brand-building tactics — all designed with creative that seamlessly built upon an earlier brand-awareness campaign.

Results

The physician campaign led directly to higher patient referrals. For example, the work with Doximity resulted in 1,915 new patients added, with a return on investment of 8.7:1. The higher referrals, in turn, impacted national rankings: the organization now claims a place among the top ten hospitals in its state and is currently ranked nationally among the top 50 for five targeted specialties and high performing in three others.